Tag Archives: routines

If you have an early riser or late to bed baby, daylight savings can send a strike of fear right through your gut.

In Australia the clocks go back an hour on Sunday April 3rd 2016 and Daylight savings starts again on Sunday 2nd of October 2016.

How do you manage the time change with a babies routine?

I’m no expert personally, but I do know how tough it can be to find the time to research what to do in different situations and that’s why I collated this list for you. Here’s what some of the most shared articles around baby and toddlers sleep in reference to daylight savings say… Share the love around with your new mum (and dad) friends.

Toddler spokesman Nathan, 4, commenced proceedings by pooing himself and them wailing about it at 5am, successfully ruining his father’s plans for a lie in and maybe some nookie.

This was the coordinated signal for small children throughout the county to begin a sustained campaign of crying, defecation, and over-excited running around in order to protest against the clock change.

“I was just thinking about having a shot at my wife’s knockers when the little shi- darling sets up a right wailing,” Nathan’s father told us.

“Bang on the dot at 5am. How the hell did he know?”

Seriously – HOW DO THEY KNOW!!!

2. Mouths of Mums had some more practical tips on the logistics on how to manage the clocks going back.

Start to put your baby or toddler to bed 10 minutes later than usual during the week, increasing by 10 minutes every night until they are going to sleep about an hour later than their normal bed time. They may initially still wake at the same time in the morning but this should adjust after a few days.

Do the same with naps although you have a little more flexibility so perhaps try 20 minutes difference every second day.

The clocks go back at 3am on Sunday morning. On Saturday, allow your child to have an energetic day which includes lots of fresh air and exercise so they’re tuckered out by bedtime.

On Sunday, you can encourage your child to stay in bed if they still wake up early but obviously attend to them if they get distressed. Given it’s also Easter Sunday, chances are if there’s chocolate at the end of the bed they will not go back to sleep!

In the run up to the time change, if you’ve been putting your baby to bed towards 8pm, they should be ready to go to bed around 7pm on Sunday.

While winter can be a good time to stay indoors; being outside during the day is really beneficial for sleep, so do dress warm, get outside and enjoy the crisp air.

3. Popsugar shares: 3 Tricks to Use Now to Make Sure Your Child’s Sleep Isn’t Affected by Daylight Saving

1. Shift bedtimes by a few minutes every day to prep for losing an hour.

When the time changes, our internal clocks — which run on about a 24.2 hour day — can adjust; it just takes a few days. By bumping your child’s bedtime routine up 10-15 minutes each night leading up to the clock shift, you help your child’s body adjust its internal clock, which is usually kept in check by consistent sleep schedules and routines. If you don’t want grumpy kiddos waking up with one hour less of sleep Monday morning, start shifting their routines now so that the change doesn’t occur all at once!

2. Keep your child’s room cool, dark, comfortable – and tech-free!

This is important all year long, but especially in the nights leading up to — and after — Daylight Savings. To ensure that your child can adjust to their bedtime being shifted (rather than just putting them into bed and them laying there for the extra allotted time), provide them with an ideal sleeping environment.

Their room should be cool, their bed should be comfortable, shades should be pulled — especially as the days stretch and stay lighter longer — and if they’re old enough to be tech junkies, the room should be tech-free. Dr. Meltzer says the fact that technology is engaging the brain and that gadgets emit bright lights makes them a no-no before bedtime.

3. Make sure they’re ready to sleep on Saturday and Sunday night by planning active days.

The more tired your little ones are before they go to sleep both nights this weekend, the easier it will be for them to not only fall asleep, but to get a good, deep sleep leading up to getting back to your weekly routine. Exposing children (even babies) to natural light in the mornings leading up to that dreaded Monday after the clocks change will help push their internal clock toward their new wake time.

“With younger babies, you want to gradually make adjustments to their schedules, starting four or five days before daylight saving,” says Kim West, sleep expert, clinical social worker and author of Good Night, Sleep Tight. “Move meals, naps and bedtimes a little later; 10 to 15 minutes each day.”

The #1 thing to keep in mind about Daylight Savings for your baby who is waking too early is she is losing an hour of her day (as well as you). This is important to understand because it is already hard to find the right nap or bedtime and with the time change, it can be even trickier. Effectively, the time change is like jet lag if you were to travel one time zone ahead of you. Because our internal clocks are “set” to be asleep or awake at certain times, following the clock as closely as you can (using the new time) on the day after the time change can help immensely. But, this means you must change your whole routine, not just sleep times. There are many things that cue your baby into a schedule or routine such as the sunrise, meal times, the time you take her out for a walk, and so on. So, if your baby wakes at 6 a.m. and her nap is usually at 8 a.m., on the day of the time change, put her down at 9 a.m. and so on.

Good luck with the daylight savings changes Mums and Dads! Let us know if you have any hot tips that may help another new mum out. In the meantime we’re sending good vibes all your babies play nicely and decide to sleep in xx